386 Report of the Department of Entomology of the 



Although the cranberry toad-bug was collected on cranberry bogs 

 prior to 1900, and described as early as 1839, the indications from 

 published accounts of cranberry insects are that the descriptions 

 of this pest were made from migrants which were collected on other 

 plants than the cranberry, leading therefore to the conclusion that 

 the species was of no economic importance. In cases where it pro- 

 duced injury the trouble was, as in the foregoing outbreak, laid 

 to other causes. 



The wilting of new growth shown on Plate VI of Dr. C. L. Shear's 

 work 6 on "Cranberry Diseases" resembles the characteristic injury 

 of the cranberry toad-bug; though the same condition might result 

 from the drying of the foliage before photographing, or, as indicated, 

 from some disease. 



ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. 



Unlike most species of the Fulgoridae, this bug apparently con- 

 fines its feeding to one plant — the cranberry. The insects do not 

 appear to be widely disseminated, and many bogs are practically 

 free from them; but on two Long Island bogs, one at Riverhead and 

 one at Calverton, the crop of fruit from such varieties as Centennial, 

 Matthews, Howe and Early Black has been greatly reduced, the 

 loss varying from one-half to three-fourths of a normal crop during 

 the past three years. Wherever the insects feed on the new 

 growth both new shoots and fruit are killed outright; while if they 

 happen to feed only on the old wood the berries on all branches 

 beyond the feeding point are shriveled and dwarfed, as shown in 

 Plate XII, fig. 2, d; c shows normal fruit. Plate XVIII, fig. 1, b also 

 shows an uninjured branch with fruit. 



The amount of damage these insects do can be expressed roughly 

 by the loss in yield on bogs where the pests have become established. 

 On the Brown bog at Calverton, L. I., the yield on an affected 

 tract of Howes, of about 5 acres, for four years was as follows: 1910, 

 800 bushel crates; 1911, 500 bushel crates; 1912, 292 bushel crates, 

 and in 1913, after treatment, 1,350 bushel crates. A small section 

 of Early Blacks adjoining the Howes yielded as follows: 1912, 36 

 bushel crates; 1913, after treatment, 139 bushel crates. 



Expressed in barrels, after sorting, and in money values these 

 yields would be approximately as follows from five acres of Howes: 



•U. S. Dept. Agr. PI. Ind. Bui. 110 (1907). 



